We finally figured out why the Russian ice dancers thought they could get away with their brownface "Aboriginal Dance" routine: This year, everyone did racial drag. Americans in bindi. Germans in grass skirts. French cowboys, kimonos, "Hava Nagila," oh my!

Tonight, one of the Olympics' few black figure skaters will perform Out of Africa with his…
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Davis and White didn't look like total asses. In fact, they looked pretty good! According to NBC, Davis and White studied dance with an ex-Bollywooder who now runs a dance studio called BollyFit in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Costume materials came from "an authentic Indian clothing store." Said Davis, "It was very important for us to do research and do the theme justice."

India, like America, is in the cultural export business, so imitation comes across as flattery instead of mockery. By contrast, Domnina and Shabalin chose a culture where dance is often tied to sacred rituals, and rarely shared with outsiders.

No brown face. As Domnina and Shabalin discovered, donning a dark mahogany skin suit to camouflage one's pale white skin is kind of a mood killer.